Council gets a briefing on city's new CIP budget

LAKEPORT -- The City of Lakeport turned 125 years old on Tuesday, just in time for the city council to get a briefing on its first official capital improvement plan (CIP), which will be reflected in the 2013-14 budget.

Daniel Buffalo, the city's finance director, outlined a draft of the five-year plan and its place in the next fiscal year at a special meeting of the city council at City Hall.

"It's the best way to run a city or local government," Buffalo said after a 45-minute presentation to the council. "It promotes transparency and accountability."

City manager Margaret Silveira said that the city, while budgeting for capital improvements, hasn't developed a formal, long-range plan for major expenditures in infrastructure and other improvements, such as the 84 projects on the "wish list" for the next five years that will cost an estimated $15.9 million.

For 2013-14, they include $2 million for "downtown infrastructure/economic development" and $412,000 for new water meters. A total of $8.1 million is projected next year for water and sewer infrastructure.

In 2014-15, $800,00 is penciled in for the parks' department to replace an old dock.